Virtual salesperson system and method

ABSTRACT

A virtual salesperson system and method for tablet computers such as Apple&#39;s iPad can be used by the customer (as opposed to most applications which are for the dealer, or on a central kiosk) to provide the customer a tour of a showroom and each vehicle, highlighting key features and other content at the discretion of the OEM, such as videos tours conducted by their spokesperson. In at least one embodiment, the customer can also search inventory, potentially at this dealer and other ‘friendly’ dealerships with whom this dealer has a trading relationship. Other sales tools such as build and price, payment estimation, etc are available as well.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) and 37 C.F.R. §1.78 of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/493,907, filed Jun. 6, 2011, and entitled “Virtual Salesperson System and Method”, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to the field of information processing, and more specifically to a system and method for providing a virtual salesperson.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Products are often sold via the interaction between a customer and a salesperson using various technologies. For example, automobile dealerships have sales applications installed on desktop computers at salespeople's desks, or available as a public kiosk, perhaps combined with a mobile website. When a consumer visits the dealership, they may walk the dealership's lot with a brochure, or they have to engage with a salesperson to find out more about the vehicles.

From an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) perspective, the dealership salespeople may not be fully trained to highlight all the key features and differentiators of the vehicles effectively. From a dealership perspective, a dealer must maintain appropriate staff to handle peak loads like weekday evenings or weekends which is expensive. From a salesperson perspective, customers may not be knowledgeable about the vehicle and require a lot of time to close a sale. From a customer perspective, they have to interact with a potentially distrusted salesperson whose interests aren't necessarily aligned with the customers, especially if they want a vehicle that isn't on the dealer's lot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary system diagram of a virtual salesperson system.

FIGS. 2-30 depict embodiments of the virtual salesperson system and method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In an embodiment of the virtual salesperson system and method, an application (as described in the attached PowerPoint presentation) has been developed for tablet computers such as Apple's iPad which can be used by the customer (as opposed to most applications which are for the dealer, or on a central kiosk) to provide the customer a tour of the showroom and each vehicle, highlighting key features and other content at the discretion of the OEM, such as videos tours conducted by their spokesperson. In at least one embodiment, the customer can also search inventory, potentially at this dealer and other ‘friendly’ dealerships with whom this dealer has a trading relationship. Other sales tools such as build and price, payment estimation, etc are available as well.

In at least one embodiment, while the customer is interacting with the application at their own leisure, the application is tracking which videos the user viewed, which vehicles the customer is interested in, the payment estimation inputs such as trade-in or monthly payment, and providing that back to the dealership sales manager so he can craft an initial offer that better aligns with the customer's expectations.

Plus, in at least one embodiment, dealers will be able to subscribe to some of the additional dealer-specific functionality on a monthly basis—in a “freemium” model. The OEM can produce the application, and dealers can choose to ‘subscribe’ to functionality that is only enabled based on the GPS Location (only available at the physical dealership). Thus, the application can be freely distributed by the OEM, but an additional revenue source for the application is the dealers funding the dealer-specific functionality.

Exemplary points:

-   -   Engagement/Business Model: Giving the customer a ‘loaner’ iPad         by a receptionist upon arrival at the dealership and letting the         customer     -   Application that tracks user behavior and reports back to Sales         Manager to     -   Use of network or GPS Location to ‘unlock’ functionality that is         only available at the dealership.     -   Use of tablet and GPS location to inform the salesperson that         the customer is ready and would like a salesperson to come out         to the lot to discuss a vehicle.

Helping the dealer do a better job meeting and selling to a customer rather than being a substitute salesperson.

Videos exist to show features of a product and help them understand a product. To make these work, you either have to walk back into the showroom, or the salesperson is trying to explain advanced features, which is difficult. This technology tells you about a specific product, such as features available on a specific car. App can also provide pricing, financing, etc. The app can also describe alternatives to the current product.

In at least one embodiment, the virtual salesperson system and method provides new engagement for customers at the point of sale on a showroom that is more economical for dealers and more aligned with customer and OEM goals—whereas they have been competing interests. Dealers motivations: selling a car on their lot. Dealer trades with other dealers or ordering is less desirable than inventory sales. OEM: Selling any car, anywhere. Want the customer to be with happy with the car they buy. anywhere. Customer: what is the right car for me, and what is the best deal I can get.

In at least one embodiment, virtual salesperson system and method helps guide the customers and bring them further along in the process. Now the sales person is dealing with a knowledgeable person, can minimize time, and can make the sale.

Dealers: sales team staffed with a few in the day, all evenings, and weekends. Must staff a lot of people to meet customer demands This virtual salesperson system and method can make sales staffing more efficient. Salesperson can focus more on the sales as opposed to explaining features and finding out what other options the customer can get.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a virtual salesperson environment 100. A product dealer has one or more data processing display devices 102, such as Apple iPads™. In at least one embodiment, some devices 102 are managed and distributed to potential customers by, for example, a receptionist or salesperson at the product dealer's facility. Other devices 102 may be owned by the customers. In at least one embodiment, certain functionality of the device 102 is unlocked (enabled) when the device 102 is on or in close proximity to the dealer's facility. In at least one embodiment, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or other entity can provide basic functionality and allow dealers to subscribe to additional functionality that can be unlocked only at the subscriber dealer. In at least one embodiment, the device 102 utilizes the device's location and unlocks (enables) virtual sales person functionality and/or unlocks the functionality when on the dealer's network. So, some or all of the features of the virtual salesperson device 102 are available only within a certain location, which, in at least one embodiment, is on or in close proximity to the dealer's facility.

Exemplary unlocked functionality is (i) searching dealer inventory, (ii) searching for a trade at another dealership, (iii) managing dealer contact (e.g. notifying a salesperson that the customer is ready to talk to a salesperson, (iv) no haggle pricing, (v) credit checks, and (vi) finance information. Additionally, the dealer can provide login and password protection for the device 102 and/or app 105, if desired by the dealer. These features that are enabled In at least one embodiment, the functionality is implemented using an iPad application (“app”). In at least one embodiment, the device 102's app 105 has a research section that provides information about a product and/or comparisons with other products. The app 105 can also disclose the actual features of a product to the device 102 user, such as this car has bucket seats, blue-tooth, satellite radio, power windows/locks, v6 engine, etc. Such information is provided by the data server 104, which contains data used by the app 105 and supports functions of the app 105. The dealer can, in at least one embodiment, lock functionality that the dealer does not want to provide to a customer.

The device 102 communicates via a network, such as a phone and/or data network (such as the Internet), to a data server 104. The data server 104 responds to data requests from the device 102 and, in at least one embodiment, contacts a sales office or sales person 106 when the customer is ready to speak with a sales person. Contact can be made in any manner, such as via phone voice or text message or electronic mail.

Thus, the device 102 provides information to the user of the device based on the device's location and functionality of the app 105.

The customer can scan a V_(IN) number or enter data to identify the product, such as a vehicle. The customer can then obtain more information about the product, about similar products, about financing, request a salesperson. The information can be displayed in any form using, for example, text, photos, audio, video, audio and video, or any other type of information dissemination technology. The customer can rank vehicles and identify features the customer “likes”.

The information can be sent to the customer while the customer is viewing the vehicle. Additionally, the App 105, in at least one embodiment, can allow a customer to pair the App 105 or a customer's device to the product, such as a car, and allow the customer to play audio (such as a music) through the product's audio system or play video through the product's video system to allow the customer to better evaluate the product.

Build and price, as shown in exemplary FIG. 15, allows a customer to actually configure another product. Data server 104 can, for example, accept user configuration data to allow a user to configure and price a product. Build and price technology is available from Versata Development Group, Inc. of Austin, TX. The app 105 can also allow a customer to enter and obtain a credit check and finance information through data server 104.

FIGS. 2-30 provide additional information regarding at least one embodiment of a virtual salesperson system and method.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a tablet computer having a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor includes code executable by the processor to access data in a database to display a tour of a showroom of products and highlight specific features of one or more of the products and provide content associated with one or more of the products. In an embodiment of the virtual salesperson system and method, an application (as described in the attached PowerPoint presentation) has been developed for tablet computers such as Apple's iPad which can be used by the customer (as opposed to most applications which are for the dealer, or on a central kiosk) to provide the customer a tour of the showroom and each vehicle, highlighting key features and other content at the discretion of the OEM, such as videos tours conducted by their spokesperson. In at least one embodiment, the customer can also search inventory, potentially at this dealer and other ‘friendly’ dealerships with whom this dealer has a trading relationship. Other sales tools such as build and price, payment estimation, etc are available as well
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: the code is further executable by the processor to allow a user of the tablet computer to search inventory of one or more dealers associated with the showroom.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein: wherein the code is further executable by the processor to configure a product, price a product, and obtain a payment estimate of the product.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: the code is further executable by the processor to: display videos of products in the showroom; track which videos were displayed; determine from at least tracking the videos which products a user of the tablet computer is interested in; tracking data communication with the tablet computer including one or more payment estimation data; providing data related to the tracked data communication to a computer system; and receiving an initial offer aligned with the products determined to be of interest to the user. 